Posts tagged DC Photography
Spending time alone and why it's good for you

As a fellow extrovert, I love being around people and get my energy from them, but I’ve started to value my alone time more lately.

Being alone meant I could use the time to focus on myself, work on this website as I camp out at a cafe - like I’m doing right now - or stay at home to catch-up on sleep and binge watch shows (we all need those lazy days!).

I used to think that staying in bed and being unproductive was… well, unproductive and a waste of time. But I’m realizing that this isn’t a waste of time because you need to rest your body to maintain your health and be fresh and ready to go for the work week. We’ll also never have time like this again, so take a break, and relax. Go stay in bed and binge watch a show or two once in a while, don’t feel guilty about it.

Going about your day alone leaves you alone with your thoughts, so I usually spend a lot of my time thinking about what I want in life, people watch by sitting next to a window at a cafe, or catch-up on work-work or personal-work.

Don’t be afraid to not have any plans on weeknights and weekends. Don’t feel like you have to go out to that party on a Friday night because everyone else is. Don’t be afraid to explore the city or town you live in by yourself.

Go date yourself, because if you don’t know who you are and what you want, what other human will?

Let it snow... in March?

Life is constantly full of surprises and might not go according to your plan. You might have a strict 5 year plan or maybe it's a one month plan. It's great to have goals in life, but make sure you don't get caught up in all the small details. Stay flexible, adaptable, have goals, and when something occurs that might seem off - like having it snow in March - seize the moment. Who knows, maybe diverging might be the best thing that could have ever happened to you.

November

Autumn. Words can't describe how much I love this season. 

I recently got a car and I've been debating for years whether I really needed one. I work/live in the city and next to the metro, and uber/lyft would come handy when public transportation would breakdown. So, I kept going back and forth, was it really worth all the additional expense? 

Yes.

Getting a car opened my eyes and it honestly felt like I inherited wings. I love how I can freely go wherever I want, whenever I want -- my options are endless (aka I can now get good Asian food whenever too). 

But it's not just this new freedom I love. 

Over the past year or two, I started to feel suffocated living here. I still found this city beautiful but it just didn't excite me as much as it used to. I had this urge to get out and thought maybe moving to a new city would be a good solve, but once I got my car, this feeling I had started to change its course.  

I forgot how much I love being encompassed by nature. 

There's a lot of greenery in MD/VA and a lot of parks/hiking trails. Having a car now lets me go on these spontaneous trips and surround myself with nature. The DMV lets me stay close to both nature and the city. Does this mean moving to a new city and starting a new chapter is off the tables? Absolutely not, but having this car has helped me fall in love with this area all over again.  

October Pt. 2

It's finally starting to feel like my favorite weather! Hello, Autumn. 

Whenever I go on these mini photoshoots, I like to return the favor to the friend who's taking my photo by taking a few photos of him/her. During this photo op, the friend I was with asked me what I would do and who I would be if I didn't have my camera. My response?

"I wouldn't be me." 

Being able to view the world through my lens and capturing moments is one of my favorite activities and something I've always cherished doing. When I was a kid, I loved going through old photo albums and watching old home videos. It would puzzle me that I couldn't recall some of the events that were captured on film even though I was in the frame.

The way our brain works and the way we're able to retain (or forget) things is so complicatedly interesting.

Once I got my hands on my first camera, I couldn't stop taking photos, not only because it was "cool" to take awkward mirror selfies with your BFF and post them on Myspace afterwards, but also because I couldn't trust my brain to remember everything. I wanted to capture these moments to look back to. 

I always joke with my friends that my camera is an extended part of my body.

I know I'm not a professional photographer and I don't know every single thing about photography, but this is just a hobby of mine I enjoy and helps me hit pause in life to appreciate my surroundings. 

April

Here we go, it's that beautiful time of the year once again. Where everything starts to come back to life, like allergy season. 

Every year, I stop by to visit the Cherry Blossoms. I take the exact same photos, walk down the same path, and end up with itchy eyes feeling dehydrated towards the end of the day. But even so, I do this every year and can never seem to get sick of this. Although I'm not ready to say goodbye to winter just yet, I do love spring, and it's this time of the year that makes me fall in love with this city all over again. 

March

I can't believe how quickly time is passing and we're already at the end of March. Clock keeps ticking, time keeps running, and here I am trying to make sure I don't waste a second of it. I think it's safe to say that it's been a busy and productive year so far as I work to figure things out.

I am trying to post more frequently, this is one item I'm trying prioritize. Make sure you continue to stop by for more, I'm working on some fun new content. 

Thanks for stopping by!